Scalable Ramp-up of Hybrid Manufacturing Systems

Handling changes is competitive. The production ramp-up is underlying various changes which productive companies have to face under a constant pressure of time, costs, quality and flexibility. In order to be able to flexibly react on requested changes and plan a scalable production the manufacturing systems should be designed accordingly. The generic approach for a scalable process design presented in this paper comprises the modularization of interdependent processes, the adjustment of automation and the increasing relevance of human resources in hybrid manufacturing systems. The decomposition of processes into scalable modules allows adjusting and reconfiguring the system according to changing conditions and tasks as a more flexible status can be implemented. A validation of this theoretically deduced approach was made at an automotive supplier.